Back in March, Google announced an interesting new app allowing parents to set up accounts on Android devices for kids under 13. Unlike setting them up with a standard account, Family Link gives you power over what they can do with their phone or tablet. The app was available as part of an invitation-only test in the US, but now it's getting a widespread public launch.

We did a hands-on with the app around the time it was first announced, and we were impressed with what we saw. It couldn't be simpler to use. When you create a Google account for your child on an Android phone or tablet, you'll be asked for their age and your consent if it's below 13. At this point Family Link will automatically be downloaded on the device. Once you've also installed it on your own device you'll then be able to access the following settings:

Manage the apps your kid can use: Approve or block the apps your kid wants to download from the Google Play Store.

Keep an eye on screen time: See how much time your kid spends on their favorite apps with weekly or monthly activity reports, and set daily screen time limits for their device.

Set device bedtime: Remotely lock your kid’s device when it’s time to play, study, or sleep.

With these controls, you can let your children happily tap away without fearing that they'll be accessing something they shouldn't or be on it for too long. That's the kind of peace of mind all parents can get on board with. It's still only available in the US for now, but I'm sure a wider rollout will come in time. You can learn more on the Family Link website, and you can download the app via the Play Store link below or from APKMirror.

I refunded my 6P and am currently reliving the wonder... The GPS is sketchy and the front camera causes the phone to crash, and the screen has separated from the frame. Speed and usability are still shockingly high, and the 5" form factor has me considering the smaller Pixel 2.

Suicide_Note

I loved everything about my N5, except for the camera. Such a mediocre shooter.

Simps

Still my Daily and still I love it. Camera has good days and bad but hey ho.

I have my oldest using this but it's still useless for my kids with older tablets, Kindles or anything not running Nougat, 7.0. I know this will change over time but I Want it Now.

ZacCoffman

I really need to just stop using G Suites for my main account

Andrew Gallagher

Yeah, I made the switch about a year ago. Still have some services hanging off my gsuite account (music and photos are the big ones), but I've switched over everything else. It makes a lot of the "magical" services work a lot better, primarily the Google Now feed.

I don't mean just being able to sign in, but actually get my email through it as well. I could of course set it so all email gets forwarded to whatever gmail account gets set up with it, but that still means maintaining a separate email service. I don't want to do that, I want Google to host it much like they do G Suite, without all the annoyances of being on G Suite.

As it stands right now my personal account is a G Suite account, so I can't just create a regular Google Account with it, they don't allow for that. I have tons of purchased content over the years that I am unwilling to re-purchase for the sake of moving to a standard account, so unless Google comes up with a way to migrate purchases to different accounts, I won't be moving away from this anytime soon.

If I didn't have so many purchases tied to my G Suite account I'd move. I can re-buy a few apps, it's mostly the movies and TV shows. If only I had known this would become a problem!

M Gordon

Is this foolproof (not including flashing the stock images)?

Vladimir

Everyone ........... In the US.

Badouken

Yeah like they said. Everyone.

Iamsecond

Yep. All reports of kids outside of the US are FAKE NEWS people! Don't believe the lies of the liberal elite, there are no children outside 'murica.

davehuze

The lack of updates by tablet manufactures is hurting me with this one. My daughter is perfectly happy using one our older tablets when we upgrade so I've never bothered to buy her a new one. To use Family Link, your child's device has to be on Nougat (or short list of Marshmallow devices). I don't even have a tablet with Nougat at this point :).

OmniWrench

Interesting. I'd previously solved some of these problems by using Nova launcher and removing the "all apps" button, "locking" users to apps on the home screen.

Big question for me is whether we'll be able to switch the google accounts my wife has already created for the kids (they're completely unaware of them, she just wanted to reserve their name in the email addr) to "kids accounts" to make use of this...

Sam ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ

Same here. I couldn't figure out a way to do this.

thespacecowboy

They have had minimum age requirements for a while now. Unless the account was created as a family link account, you can't get it to work.

Sure, which would be great if they had provided anything like this sooner. The system made no sense as it was before, because it's 2017 and kids have smartphones. The alternative was to set it up under MY account in which case my kid gets all my notifications, access to all my email, photos, etc., and we don't get separate location histories? Absurd. They should grant some leniency, recognize the problem they helped create, and give us some temporary immunity to convert.

Paulo

Install DinnerTime Plus, learn how to use it, problem solved. There are ways around it if you just install it and assume it is all set and don't lock down certain aspects of the phone but if you learn how to lock down those vulnerabilities it is pretty flawless.

Reviews seem pretty poor, even with your caveats in mind, and my kid's frustratingly smart. Not sure I can rely on that.

miscfiles

This would be great for me if there were a way to use it on my old Nexus 7 2013, and outside of the US... No chance of getting it on an Amazon Fire 7 I guess?

Eric Hoch

Given the minimum OS requirements (7.0), does anyone have any recommendations for a replacement for my LG GPad 8.3 GPE? The Lenovo Tab 4 8 Plus looks promising, but I haven't seen anything else recently that seems like an upgrade.

Simps

For once I wish Google would release something for UK only so I can come in the comments and see everyone from across the pond moaning and see how they like it lol /s
Looking forward to this, looks promising.

Iamsecond

Yep, imagine if we had YouTube Red and they were the ones who had to suffer ads with every video!

Not that I'm bitter....

Give me YouTube Red Google!!!!

skeeterfood

Great timing Google, my youngest turned 13 last weekend. Oh well.

Kostas 💪🎩

Widespread US only rollout...

JP

Many kids still have devices running version 4.4, version 5 and 6 of Android. Install Boomerang Parental Control, it does all of Google Family Link and more for smartphones. It also doesn't require a child to have a Gmail to get started - especially important for younger kids.